Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
Department of Pharmacy, Islamia University Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2021 Mar;27(2):359-367. doi: 10.1177/1078155220922598. Epub 2020 May 9.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer in the world and in Pakistan it ranks at fifth position. The present study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, preventive practices and perceived barriers to screening about colorectal cancer among university students.
A cross-sectional study was conducted after developing a self-administered questionnaire among the university students of newly merged districts of Kpk, Pakistan.
A total of 302 students (232 male and 70 female) participated in the study. The knowledge score of the participants regarding the risk factors and warning signs of colorectal cancer was 59.9% and 40%. More than 90% of the participants were of the view that colorectal cancer diagnosis at initial stages can improve treatment and around 80% were in favor of undergoing regular physical examination to avoid colorectal cancer. Only 37.7% of the participants had intentionally collected information about colorectal cancer. The percentage of participants who intentionally participated in educational activities related to colorectal cancer was 33.1%. Furthermore, only 24.4% of the participant had ever taken part in colorectal cancer screening. The barriers toward colorectal cancer screening were fear of finding colorectal cancer and the anxiety of screening procedures. However, around 32% of the participants had no knowledge about colorectal cancer screening.
In view of the findings of this study, it can be suggested that community awareness programs that are focused towards screening of colorectal cancer may be initiated in the newly merged districts of Kpk, Pakistan. The implementation of such colorectal cancer screening program can help in its early detection and can potentially lower the associated mortality and morbidity risk with this disease.
结直肠癌是世界上第三大常见癌症，在巴基斯坦排名第五。本研究旨在评估大学生对结直肠癌的知识、态度、预防措施和筛查障碍。
在巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省新合并地区的大学生中，通过自我管理问卷进行了横断面研究。
共有 302 名学生（232 名男性和 70 名女性）参加了研究。参与者对结直肠癌的危险因素和预警信号的知识评分分别为 59.9%和 40%。超过 90%的参与者认为在早期阶段诊断结直肠癌可以改善治疗效果，约 80%的人赞成定期体检以预防结直肠癌。只有 37.7%的参与者有意收集有关结直肠癌的信息。有意参加与结直肠癌相关的教育活动的参与者比例为 33.1%。此外，只有 24.4%的参与者曾参加过结直肠癌筛查。结直肠癌筛查的障碍是害怕发现结直肠癌和筛查程序的焦虑。然而，约 32%的参与者不了解结直肠癌筛查。
鉴于本研究的结果，可以建议在巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省新合并地区开展以结直肠癌筛查为重点的社区宣传计划。实施这样的结直肠癌筛查计划有助于早期发现，可能降低与这种疾病相关的死亡率和发病率风险。
